One Night Only: Game Previews for September 11th

Yeah, that’s Trout right there. I bench him just to eff with people.

New York Americans (10) at Los Angeles Americans (5) | 15:35 ET
A Thing
Provided I’m reading his BR game log correctly, it appears as though the Angels are 11-1 in games that Mike Trout has started since his (i.e. Trout’s) August 19th recall — over which time the team, as a whole, is 13-6 (making them 2-5 in games Trout has not started).

Obvious Question
Is that stat predictive in any way?

Rational Answer
No, obviously not.

Follow-Up Question
But do you, Carson Cistulli, still kinda feel like it’s a predictive stat?

Follow-Up Answer
Yes, of course I do.

Final, Important Note
With their win last night — and a Ranger loss — the Angels are only 1.5 games back in the AL West.

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Angels Radio.

Two Other Games
Houston (4) at Washington (6) | 13:35 ET
Stephen Strasburg makes his second start of the season after doing this last Tuesday: 5.0 IP, 17 TBF, 4 K, 0 BB, 5 GB on 13 batted-balls (38.5% GB). That’s a single-game xFIP of 2.66 (or 69 xFIP-).

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Nationals Television (for the Stras-a-mania).

Cincinnati (5) at Colorado (6) | 15:10 ET
Drew Pomeranz, acquired in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, makes his major-league debut for the Rockies. His numbers this season between High- and Double-A: 101.0 IP, 10.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9. Per StatCorner, his ground-ball rates have been quite low in Double-A — like, in the high-20s.

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Not Reds Television.

Also Playing
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 6.0.

The following Game Scores include the new and improved playoff-odds adjustment, which you can learn about in your brain by clicking here.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP	Home		Time
Scott Diamond	MIN	5	0	3	2	5	DET	Doug Fister	13:05
Tommy Hunter	BAL	5	2	4	6	6	TOR	Dustin McGowan*	13:07
Javier Vazquez	FL	5	8	4	5	4	PIT	James McDonald	13:35
Henry Sosa	HOU	6	4	10	6	18	WAS	Stephen Strasburg*	13:35
Jon Lester	BOS	7	10	9	7	8	TB	James Shields	13:40
Ubaldo Jimenez	CLE	7	5	5	2	7	CHA	Zach Stewart	14:10
Vance Worley	PHI	6	3	6	8	8	MIL	Yovani Gallardo	14:10
Tim Hudson	ATL	6	4	6	3	4	STL	Jake Westbrook	14:15
Josh Outman	OAK	3	1	5	8	6	TEX	C.J. Wilson	15:05
Edinson Volquez	CIN	7	5	7	6	10	COL	Drew Pomeranz*	15:10
Freddy Garcia	NYA	3	10	10	5	6	LAA	Ervin Santana	15:35
Hiroki Kuroda	LAN	7	4	7	3	10	SF	Mad. Bum.	16:06
Everett Teaford*	KC	5	10	4	0	4	SEA	Anthony Vasquez*	16:10
Wade LeBlanc	SD	3	6	4	9	5	AZ	Josh Collmenter	16:10
Matt Garza	CHN	10	4	6	4	4	NYN	Miguel Batista*	20:05

NERD represents an attempt to anticipate the watchability of a game for the baseballing enthusiast.
To learn more about Pitcher NERD, click here and scroll down a little.
To learn more about latest Team NERD, click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.